Local auto workers union protests Romney's comments

AVON LAKE -- Local auto workers ripped Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney for his recent comments about government help for the American auto industry.

Members of the United Auto Workers Local 2000, who represent hourly workers at Ford's Ohio Assembly Plant in Avon Lake, criticized Romney shortly after the former Massachusetts governor made a campaign stop yesterday in the same city.

In the last few days, Democrats and union leaders have pounced on a statement Romney made last week at a rally in Defiance.

Romney apparently misinterpreted a story about Chrysler's Jeep production for the Chinese auto market and concluded the auto maker was shutting down U.S. production to move jobs to China, according to a news report from the Detroit Free Press.

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As the campaign trail winds down, it seems the opposition is spreading some untruths," said Jerome Williams, union president.

"Of course we know that a move of that magnitude would just cripple the Toledo area," Williams said. Chrysler has denied the report, he added.

"This tells me that Governor Romney is willing to go to any lengths to get elected, even telling blatant untruths to the people of Toledo to scare them into believing that they're going to lose their jobs, also to try to impress upon them that him and his running mate would be the right choice for the presidency," Williams said.

He was joined by union Chairman Tim Rowe, Sheffield Village Mayor John Hunter, who also is president of the union's retirees group, and a number of other workers who came out as a show of support.

Chrysler has acknowledged considering production to sell Jeeps in China, but rebutted the statement that the company would close American plants to move Jeep production overseas, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Meanwhile, the local UAW members said under President Obama's policies, Ford has committed to moving production of its 650 and 750 series medium duty trucks from Mexico to the Avon Lake factory.

"We're bring jobs back to the United States at Ohio Assembly Plant here in Avon Lake," he said.

If General Motors and Chrysler would have gone out of business, it would have an effect on makers of glass, steel, electronics, rubber and other suppliers around the country, Williams said.

"All this is related to the president standing behind and supporting the auto industry, unlike Governor Romney, who said let the auto industry go bankrupt," Williams said.